Hellhound on My Trail

During his second and final recording session in June 1937, Robert Johnson sat in a makeshift studio inside the Brunswick Record building in Dallas. It was a sweltering summer weekend, but Johnson delivered a track of chilling psychological terror. Utilizing an eerie, dissonant open E-minor tuning, he picked out fragmented, ghostly notes that perfectly mirrored his desperate, wandering vocals. "Hellhound on My Trail" vividly painted the picture of a man hunted by demonic forces, standing today as perhaps the most haunting acoustic blues recording ever committed to wax.